#037 June Q&A

Welcome back to the 37th edition of the Boats & Logs Lifting Club. I really appreciate you being here. We are the based fitness community that focuses on mastering the basics instead of getting lost in the details.

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Before we start a quick disclaimer:
I published over 20 Boats & Logs graphics a few weeks ago for you to download as wallpapers for free. If you are interested, download them here.
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Today, we are back with our monthly Q&A, answering many really important topics, before we are back with three weeks of incredibly insightful posts. Next week, we will share a bodyweight program that can help you work out if you are traveling during the summer or can’t access a gym for any other reason. In the weeks after, we will provide a non-bs creatine guide, as well as a blueprint on how to build muscle as a busy professional:

• July 14th: Bodyweight Program

• July 21st: Creatine Guide

• July 28th: Building muscle - The busy professional guide

• August 4th: July Q&A

I hope you enjoy this newsletter.

How can I stay motivated and consistent with my diet and workout?

Probably no surprise to you, but the biggest reason most people fail to build muscle is because they are not consistent over weeks, months, and years. And the funny thing is that being consistent is quite easy in theory:

Train at least 3 times per week and follow a meal plan.

But as we all know, doing this every day can become quite a challenge, and you will come to a point where you have to show up despite not being motivated or feeling like it.

And that’s what everybody will tell you. Being consistent in the gym isn’t about motivation. It’s about doing it despite not feeling like it.

But luckily, we can make it easier for ourselves to stay consistent:

• Less is more: Why choose a program that requires you to hit the gym 5-6 days per week when you already know that it could be hard to balance this with your work or general life? You will build more muscle if you are consistent with a 3 days per week plan compared to picking a 5 days per week plan but going only 3 days for most of the time.

• Friends & Accountability: Working together with friends on your fitness goals can also be a good way to stay consistent. And you don’t even need to work out together (I’m not a big fan of this anyway, as your workouts will take way longer). It’s just important that you show up together. If you agree to meet at the gym, the barrier will be way higher for you to decide to skip the workout.
  But also, if you don’t have a friend who is in the same gym as you, you can ask your friends to hold you accountable in regards to your workouts & diet.

• Optimize for fun/enjoyment: Whether it’s with your exercise selection, your food choices, or what kind of cardio you are doing. The more you enjoy those things, the easier it is to be consistent with them. Don’t like potatoes to lose weight? No problem - pick a different food!

How can I calculate my calorie demand correctly?

Calculating your calorie demand can be quite challenging when you are doing it for the first time. Even between days, your calorie demand can vary based on your activity level.

Finding the right calorie intake for you is oftentimes linked with a bit of experimentation. But if you are open to it, here is an easy guide on how you can determine your calorie demand quite accurately.

To do that, follow these steps:

1. Use 3-5 online tools to calculate your calorie maintenance level and take the average amount
2. Adjust the maintenance level based on your goal by ± 300-500 calories (do you want to bulk or cut?)
3. Consistently consume the determined calories
4. Weight yourself every morning and track your progress. Happy with the progress? Continue with the current calorie intake. Not making the progress you want? Decrease/Increase your calorie intake by another 150-500 calories
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you find your optimal calorie level

A message from Boats & Logs

Before we continue this newsletter, I would greatly appreciate it if you could take the time to help me out with two quick favors:

1. Let’s create a win-win together! As you now know, accountability is one of the best strategies for staying consistent when working out. And what better way to stay consistent than to follow the same program with a friend?
   We are already thousands of weekly Boats & Logs readers, and I’d greatly appreciate it if you would help me spread the word further by sharing the newsletter and our programs with a friend using this link https://boats-logs.beehiiv.com/subscribe.

   
   

2. I also have a few incredibly insightful posts lined up. You’d help me a ton if you could take a few seconds and vote on which newsletter you look forward to the most. This way, I can make sure to produce content that’s the most helpful to you.

   Which topic are you most interested in?

   💪 Bodyweight Program 💊 Creatine Guide 👨‍💼 Building Muscle - The Busy Professional Guide

   Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Should I lose fat first or bulk first when I start my fitness journey?

A common misconception many beginners in the gym have is about whether they should lose fat or bulk at the beginning of their fitness journey. They hear some advice from gym bros or bodybuilders who all follow a routine of bulking and cutting and believe that they first need a bulking phase when they start their fitness journey to build a lot of muscle in the beginning.

But this makes only sense for a small group of people: Those who are skinny.

If you are below 12% body fat, it actually makes sense to start your fitness journey with a bulk to gain muscle. But even then, make sure that it is not a dirty bulk. There is a limit to how much muscle you can build, and increasing your calorie surplus will not speed up your muscle building but only add more fat.

You will always add some fat when you are bulking, but make sure that you don’t get fat. Cut down your calorie surplus once you reach around 15% body fat.

If you start your fitness journey and already have a rather high body fat of over 15%, you definitely shouldn’t go on a bulk. Instead, focus on losing weight first.

Especially in the beginning, you can still build a decent amount of muscles while losing body fat. Take advantage of this effect! There is no point in bulking up from 15% body fat to 22% body fat.

You will be less healthy, less attractive, and it will take you months to cut down to 12% or lose body fat.

Therefore, the general advice that you need to bulk at the beginning of your fitness journey is bs. Instead, make a decision based on your body fat.

How to hit triceps without a cable machine?

Before we answer this question, I need to make one thing clear. You don’t need any special machines or whatever to make gains. As I explained in the home gym newsletter, a bench and dumbbells are enough to build muscle.

But you need to be creative.

For the triceps, however, you don’t even need to be that creative.

The common triceps/cable push-down has a similar movement pattern to dips or push-ups.

The cable overhead extension can easily be replaced by the same exercise but with dumbbells.

This leaves us with a wide range of exercises we could do if we don’t have access to a cable machine:

• Dips

• Various push-up variations

• Close-grip benchpress

• Skull crusher

• Overhead extensions (dumbbell instead of cable)

Thank you for reading today's newsletter. If you have further questions, simply DM me on Instagram.

Stay strong,
Boats & Logs

Disclaimer

This is not Legal, Medical, or Financial advice. Before starting any workout program, diet plan, or supplement protocol, please consult a medical professional. These are the opinions from an AI voice.